Ministers to end adoption "scandal"

David Cameron wants social workers to move far more quickly to place children with adoptive parents

Ministers are launching a campaign to end Britain’s adoption logjam and help thousands of children find new families.

David Cameron wants social workers to move far more quickly to place children with adoptive parents after growing criticism of a system which means potential parents face an ­average wait of 31 months to adopt.

Under the new plan the limit will be four to six months. Education Secretary Michael Gove, who was adopted as a child, has pushed for the overhaul. He has already told local authorities to make sure social workers let white families adopt black and mixed-race children, and that single people and older couples are not discriminated against.

Councils will be pressured to move children and babies out of care and into their new families more ­quickly. Those performing badly face being “named and shamed”.

The plan follows Mr Cameron’s promise to end the “scandal” in which just 60 babies under a year old were adopted last year from 3,660 in state care in England. But the most radical plan would mean fin­ancial help for children who have been in care, in a bid to boost exam grades – their schools could get more money and they could pay reduced university fees.

Just 12 per cent of children who were in care get A to C GCSE grades, compared with 59 per cent generally. A total of 27,310 ­children were taken into care in the year to March 2011, down from 28,090 the previous year.

But there was also a fall in the children placed for adoption from 2,720 in 2007 to 2,450.